Sharks spoil Nolan's night

CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- There were times over the past few
years when Owen Nolan could have walked away from the game. You
couldn't blame him if on Monday he wondered why he didn't.

Playing in his 1,000th NHL game, Nolan watched his former team,
the San Jose Sharks, dominate his current team, the Calgary
Flames, with a 4-1 rout at Pengrowth Saddledome.

Before the game the Flames honored Nolan for his achievement.
Signed as a free agent this past summer, Nolan is the 220th NHL
player and the third player to play his 1,000th game as a
Calgary Flame, joining Craig Berube and Martin Gelinas.

But, while Nolan had his moment before the puck dropped, the
Sharks had theirs when it counted.

The Sharks took advantage of a late Calgary penalty in the first
period to take the early lead. Ryane Clowe banged home a
rebound off a Jeremy Roenick shot with 96 seconds remaining in
the opening period.

Roenick finished the night with two assists
and remains two goals shy of 500 for his career.

"It's coming, especially playing with that line," said Roenick.
"We got a lot of chances to score again tonight."

Flames forward Eric Godard appeared to open the scoring with
just under four minutes remaining in the first period. The goal
was disallowed after replays showed Godard redirected the puck
with this left arm.

Milan Michalek gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead with a shorthanded
marker in the second period. Michalek grabbed his own rebound
after a backhand shot that Calgary goaltender Miika Kiprusoff
stopped.

The Sharks chased Kiprusoff from the net with a power-play goal
late in the second period. Steve Bernier deflected Craig Rivet's
point shot to give the Sharks a 3-0 lead with just under four
minutes left in the second session.

Flames coach Mike Keenan wasn't blaming his goaltender.

"Pulling Mikka had nothing to do with Mikka's play whatsoever,"
Keenan said. "It was solely intended to try and jump start
them.

"I was trying to get the team some kind of jump start, some kind
of energy to get them to refocus on what their task was
tonight. They didn't respond to it at all."

Michalek scored his second goal of the game 5 1/2 minutes into
the third period.

"The first one was just good luck, the rebound came to my
stick," Michalek said. "The second one, J.R. (Roenick) made a
pretty good pass to me."

Calgary avoided becoming Evgeni Nabokov's second consecutive
shutout victim when Daymond Langkow scored his eighth goal of
the season with 2:33 to play.